Tight availability of PO imports sent spot prices in Asia surging by about $200/tonne (€140/tonne) over the past four weeks to $2,030-2,090/tonne CFR (cost and freight) China on 19 August, according to ICIS.

"Any PO cargoes that Petro Rabigh can dispatch to China immediately will likely only arrive around late September or even October,” said a Shanghai-based trader in Mandarin.

Prices may soften in the coming weeks when regional supplies normalise, he said.

The Rabigh petrochemical complex includes a 400,000 bbl/day refinery and high olefins fluid catalytic cracker (HOFCC) that produce 1.3m tonnes/year of ethylene and 900,000 tonnes/year of propylene.